Volodin: Europe will lose €21 billion if Russians are banned from issuing visas

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin believes that the countries of the European Union (EU) are “punishing themselves” by restricting entry to Russian citizens. According to him, Europe will lose €21 billion if Russian tourists are banned from entering the EU countries.

Mr. Volodin called the initiative to limit the ability of Russian citizens to come to Europe a hysteria voiced by countries that have “lost their sovereignty.” According to him, such measures are being discussed because of the “stupidity and ignorance” of Europe.

“80% of the world’s population does not support sanctions against Russia – there is someone to visit. But it is better to develop your own infrastructure. We have a lot of great places. Everything must be done to create conditions for travel and recreation in our country,” the speaker wrote in his Telegram channel.

The European Travel Commission reported that in 2019 Russian tourists accounted for 10% of the total number of tourists staying in Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Montenegro, Estonia and Cyprus. The commission clarified that the outflow of tourists from Russia would lead to financial losses in these areas.

Earlier, a number of European countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia – suspended the issuance of tourist visas to Russians and called on the European Union to support this initiative. Finland will halve the number of accepted Schengen applications from September, while Denmark and the Netherlands do not issue short-stay visas. The proposal to ban the issuance of visas will be considered when discussing the next package of EU sanctions against Russia. Germany, USA, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece opposed such an initiative.

Read more about the discussion in the EU – in the material “Kommersant” “Russia is being challenged”.

Lusine Balasyan